Removing a navigation bar

I have a 550MHZ IBM clone with 384MG of ram, 4 harddrives,60,60,40,30GIG. I have a navigation bar on the left of my computer screen in Windows XP that shows Folder Tasks, Other Places, and Details. I cannot remove the bar, modify size or do anything with it. I also can’t get into explorer. My computer seems a bit slower also. I can access the internet, run programs & function. I went to Microsoft but their solution, as usual to solve all problems, is to reinstall the operating system (Win XP). I have several programs on my computer and this would take a lot of time. Any other solution?